See You at the Pole 2022 âAflame,â the Annual Global Day of Student Prayer, is Wednesday, September 28. All around the globe, in every time zone, millions of students will meet at their schoolâs flagpole for a time of prayer for the 32nd Annual See You at the Pole (SYATP). SYATP is a student-initiated, student- organized and student-led event.
SYATP is about one simple thing â STUDENTS in PRAYER. Before school, tens of thousands of students locally meet together at their schoolâs flagpole in prayer for their friends, families, school, city, state and nation. This year’s SYATP emphasis is âAflame,â taken from Romans 12:11-12 in the Bible.
First Priority will once again coordinate SYATP efforts for Greater Birmingham through:
Awareness â print, web, social media, TV and radio;
Students gathering at their schoolâs flagpole on the morning of September 28, to pray for their school, teachers, classmates, community and our nation; and
Community rallies, planned by local First Priority student volunteers and adults, that will be held on the evening of September 28.
See You at the Pole is a student-initiated, student-led movement that started in 1990. It originated with one youth group, meeting at night at several schools in the community during a weekend retreat. SYATP brings students to their school flagpoles to intercede for their leaders, schools and families, asking God to bring moral and spiritual awakening to their campuses and countries. First Priority estimates 25,000-30,000 students across the Greater-Birmingham Area will participate in SYATP this year. For more information, visit syatp.com. â
Cancer diagnoses are nothing to celebrate. As Daniel Walker puts it, âno cancer is good.â But when Walker found out the specific type of cancer his son had, he considered it good news. Danielâs son Asher was diagnosed with leukemia in January 2016. Asher had turned 5 years old just two weeks prior, and according to Daniel, he had been a ânormal, regularly active childâ up to that point.
That changed in one weekend. The weather was freezing in central Alabama, and Asher was pale and seemed to have a cold. By Monday morning, his symptoms had worsened, so Daniel decided to keep him out of school. On the way to the bathroom that morning, Asher stumbled, fell on the floor and began vomiting. Daniel knew something was wrong, so he set up an appointment with Asherâs pediatrician. That doctor sent him to Childrenâs of Alabama, where after a series of tests, physicians determined that Asher had leukemia. Initial results suggested he had acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a type of cancer that requires intensive chemotherapy treatments followed by months in the hospital recovering from each treatment cycle. He might even need a stem cell transplantâone of the most intensive types of leukemia treatments.
Asher Walker is seen here with his dad, Daniel, and Dr. Kutny.
When Daniel found out, he went numb. â(My body and mind) almost went into like auto-pilot mode,â he said. âItâs like it compartmentalized any emotion that I was feeling because I knew I was the only one that he had to be able to deal with this. As Daniel was still processing the diagnosis, doctors at Childrenâs were doing more genetic tests on Asherâs leukemia cells. Two days later, they had more details. Asher had a specific subtype of AML called acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). Historically, it has been extremely difficult to treat. Patients with APL need aggressive treatments, such as cytotoxic chemotherapy. They typically become very sick from both the disease and its treatments, and less than half are cured. In the 1980s, only 25% of APL patients might be alive and free of leukemia five years later, according to Dr. Malcolm Smith of the National Cancer Institute.
But in January 2016, when Asher was diagnosed, Dr. Matthew Kutny, a pediatric hematologist and oncologist at Childrenâs of Alabama, was in the early stages of a clinical trial using a new APL treatment. It involved a regimen of arsenic trioxide and all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA). If Asher joined the clinical trial, he could be treated for APL without needing chemotherapy. Asher would be exposed to far fewer toxins and spend less time in the hospital. One doctor told Daniel a diagnosis of APL was best news he could have hoped for. âIt was a no-brainer,â Daniel said. He enrolled his son in the trial. Initially, it wasnât easy. Daniel remembers nights during the first two weeks when Asherâs oxygen levels would fall, and doctors would come into Asherâs room with a portable X-ray machine to check him out. âThatâs what was the scariestâthe first two weeks in the hospital, the first two weeks of treatment,â Daniel said. âBecause he wasnât eating well. We were trying to figure out medication.â
But Kutny had warned Daniel to expect this, and eventually, Asherâs symptoms improved with the supportive care given by his medical team. Soon, Asher was able to leave the hospital and receive treatments in the outpatient clinic. He was even able to go to the grocery store with his dad on the way home from treatments and tag along while Daniel went to work, if needed. âThat was really a very positive aspect of this treatment: Asher could still be a kid, and he didnât have to worry about the struggles and the additional illnesses that come along with the more traditional chemotherapy treatment,â Daniel said. Asherâs treatment lasted almost nine months. Aside from trips to Childrenâs to be treated, his life was mostly normal, Daniel said. Eventually, he went into full remission. Now, he returns to the hospital only once a year just to get bloodwork. âYou can say, âOK itâs bad, no matter which (type of leukemia) we had.â But Iâm going to be grateful that itâs this and not something else,â Daniel said. âBecause with this, itâs much more manageable.â
Asher was one of 154 pediatric APL patients who participated in Kutnyâs study, which was coordinated by the National Cancer Institute. Between 2015 and 2019, More than 80 institutions across the Childrenâs Oncology Group (COG) enrolled patients in the study. It found that the treatment of arsenic trioxide and ATRA without cytotoxic chemotherapy was just as effective as the traditional chemotherapy treatment while being far less challenging to the patient. Itâs now the new standard of care for these patients. The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association-Oncology in November. âWeâre excited as a COG investigator to be in an era where we can offer patients a far more effective and less toxic approach to treating cancer,â Kutny said. âThis is what we hope represents the future for many childhood cancers, that we can move away from the more toxic and intense treatments toward a more targeted approach that really attacks specifically the genetic changes that occurred in the cell that turned it into a cancer cell.â
Kutny hopes doctors will find ways to refine the treatment process even further in the future. Because the arsenic trioxide has to be administered intravenously, patients have to visit clinics to receive it. This happens daily during the induction phase of the treatment and five days a week during consolidation. This often leads to a lot of absences from school for patients like Asher, who according to Daniel, missed about half of kindergarten while being treated. Kutny says there are some encouraging early studies on converting the arsenic trioxide treatment to an oral form, which would prevent patients from missing school. That means the treatment that already has set a new standard of care still has room to get better. For more information, visit childrensal.org/cancer. â
Looking for Vacation Bible School (VBS) opportunities happening this summer in and around Birmingham? Check out the great options in the list below! Click on the links for more information.
The Sozo Childrenâs Choir kicked off its multi-state âMiracle Tourâ in April with performances in Delaware and Maryland, where the choir opened the Youth for Christ dinner featuring Tim Tebow. In May, the ministry celebrated its 12th anniversary with a concert at the historic Lyric in Birmingham featuring upbeat praise music and a special acapella worship experience. âThe show at The Lyric was exciting for all of us. Every choir tour just gets bigger and better,â said Cathy Head, chair of the Sozo board of directors. âThese children have been practicing for over a year to prepare for this trip and to be able to celebrate this birthday with us in such an amazing venue was a real blessing. Itâs bigger than we could have imagined when we first planned the tour last year.âÂ
The Sozo Childrenâs Choir has performed for nearly 10,000 people (and counting) in four states during the 2022 tour. They perform at churches and schools.
For the last year, the children have been rehearsing and performing in Uganda, Africa leading up to the American tour. Sozo Children, a Birmingham-based ministry, serving the needs of vulnerable children in Uganda, created the choir in 2016 and the current tour is the fourth time the choir has traveled to America and is the first time the choir has toured the states since being stranded in Ala. two years ago when the pandemic forced the children to shelter in place nearly 8000 miles from home. âThe entire month has been a whirlwind of events for us,â said Suzanne Owens, CEO of Sozo Children. Following the performance at the historic Lyric Theater, Sozo hosted its Run For A Reason 5K through the streets of the Avondale community ending with a choir performance at Avondale Brewing.
The choir tour was originally planned for January through May but due to a series of delays in the process the tour will now last into early October. Although off to a late start, the choir has now performed in four states and to nearly 10,000 people and is busy booking dates in churches and schools wherever they are able. There is no set charge for performances, but most churches and schools take up an offering or make a donation to the ministry.Â
âStarting later than planned has turned into an opportunity for us,â said Owens. âSpreading the tour through the summer will allow the kids to attend Vacation Bible School (VBS) with some of the local churches during the week.â The choir has been invited to The World Games and will sing The National Anthem at a Legion soccer game as well.
The âMiracle Tourâ serves as a missionâs trip for the Sozo children. While in the United States, they will also experience things like attending Vacation Bible School.
The choir serves as a mission trip for the children of Sozo, who audition to join the tour every other year. Owens said this choir is special because it is the first one where children from the local community in Uganda reached out to audition. In total, five children from the local community joined the choir, and Sozo, for the first time. âWeâre excited to share this worship and learning experience with our kids and let them spend quality time with children here in Alabama,â said Owens. âGrowing up here, we sometimes take things like Vacation Bible School for granted but itâs a real treat for our kids.âÂ
A former youth pastor who moved into ministry from mortgage banking, Owens says she never imagined sheâd be operating a childrenâs home in Africa, or anywhere else. âTwo of my former youth had accepted a temporary assignment as missionaries in Uganda,â said Owens. âThey were going there to help build a website for a church and play in a worship band, but they found a childrenâs home that had been practically abandoned.â
Owens said she felt like God was leading her to intervene but the idea of opening a home for the children was out of her comfort zone at the time. âI did a lot of arguing with God,â she said laughingly. âI felt like He was telling me âYouâre going to open a childrenâs home and have missionariesâ and I was saying âno, Iâm not.ââ
Sozo Children is a Birmingham-based ministry that serves the needs of vulnerable children in Uganda.
Eventually, Owens and the mission team got permission to take in some of the children from the home. With some help from local leaders, they agreed and rented a house, hired a local staff, and initially took in 17 of the children. Thatâs when they decided on a name for the ministry. The name âSozoâ comes from Scripture. It is the Greek word that means âto rescue or saveâ and appears more than 100 times in the New Testament.
Today, Sozo Children has grown to provide housing, nutritional care, counseling, medical care, quality education and spiritual direction to more than 125 children. But the reach goes much farther. Sozo ministers to families in the local village where it works with a local pastor to host âkids clubâ twice a weekâproviding snacks, play time and devotionals for hundreds of children who sometimes walk miles just to attend. âChildren come to Sozo from some really harsh circumstances,â she said. âSome of them have been abandoned, some have lost their parents. Some of them have been abused and some have been rescued from trafficking situations.â
In Uganda, like many other parts of the world where extreme poverty is everyday life, children are often dropped off at local police stations by desperate parents who can no longer provide for them. Social workers assist in finding homes for the children with relatives or childrenâs homes like Sozo. âWe place a lot of emphasis on sustainability,â she said. âWe want to equip them to be self-sustaining and self-sufficientâto learn skills that will benefit them throughout the rest of their lives long after they graduate from their time with us.â
Since the Sozo Childrenâs Choir started in 2016, they have traveled to the United States four times. During 2020, the choir was stranded in America due to the COVID-19 shutdown.
âThe purpose of mission work is not to go there to create little Americans, so we donât impose our western culture on them. Instead, we go there to walk alongside them and experience God together,â said Owens, adding, âWe want them to be amazing leaders for Uganda and we want them to be strong leaders for Christ in their communities wherever they go in life.â
Sozo also leads short-term mission teams to Uganda where participants can interact in the work of the ministry, deliver food packs, and learn about African culture. Despite limited access to travel since the start of the pandemic, Owens is optimistic about the future of international missions. âWeâve only had two mission teams travel to Uganda since the end of 2019, but we are planning a full calendar for next year and trusting God to guide the way,â she said. Individuals can sign up to join a Sozo mission team on the Sozo Children website. Many teams are organized by churches, small groups, or even groups of college students who want to take a meaningful trip for Spring Break or during summer or Christmas breaks.Â
Sozo Children is funded through child sponsorships and donations and also operates Sozo Trading Co., an upscale thrift store in the Avondale community. To learn more about Sozo Children, or to sign up for a mission trip, book the choir, or sponsor a child, visit www.sozochildren.org.
-Terry Schrimscher
Did you enjoy this story? Click here to view our full June issue!
Join Vestavia Hills Baptist Church after VBS on June 16th from 5-7 pm for a Family Fun Night complete with food trucks from all over the Birmingham area! Current line-up: Red Diamond Coffee & Tea Truck, Pazzo, Steel City Pops (more to be added!)
Join us at Vestavia Hills Baptist Church from 9 am – 12 pm each day for a Food Truck Party VBS at VHBC! We’re Giving Thanks for God’s Daily Bread. Rising 1st graders through Rising 6th grades welcome! Families are invited to stay after VBS each day for a lunch in the Fellowship Hall!
On April 30, 2022, in conjunction with St. Elias Lebanese Food Festival, the â9th Annual Cedar Run 5K & Cedar Shake Fun Runâ will take place. All proceeds from the run for three years will go to Just Keep Smiling. Consider signing up to participate, whether it is running or walking in the 5K or Fun Run, creating a team or securing a sponsorship with a wide range available. Invite your company to support the JKS mission. Details can be found at www.StEliasCedarRun.org.
Regardless whether running is for you, make plans to enjoy and support the St. Elias Lebanese Food and Cultural Festival on April 29-30. There are other opportunities for supporting Just Keep Smiling as well. Just Keep Smiling âAuction & Appetizersâ on Thursday, September 29 at Regions Field is a great night for a great cause. Visit www.justkeepsmiling.org for more on the 501(c)3 and these events.
First through Sixth Graders are encouraged to join us for this fun-filled day of activities, music, and lessons at First Baptist Church in Pleasant Grove. It’s like a week-long VBS packed into one day! We’ll have live worship music and a special guest speaker for the large group times. Children will have small group activities throughout the day. Cost includes t-shirt, 2 meals, snacks, crafts and activities. Church groups and individuals are invited to come. Learn more and register here or call Dan Williams at 205-790-3768.
âSo do not fear, for I am with you;do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you…â Isaiah 41:10
Kellie Franklin says from the day Briklyn had her first seizure, the entire family came together to support her. âBriklynâs brother Blayze (22) and sister Breagan (20) have been by her side every step of the way and have been huge support systems for her.â Pictured above left to right: Blayze, Briklyn, and Breagan.
November 21, 2016 is a day the Franklin family of Jemison, Ala. will never forget. Then 11-year-old daughter, Briklyn Franklin had her first seizure. âShe was in our garage with her dad Anthony and her brother Blayze washing out paintbrushes where they had been painting her room,â mom Kellie Franklin remembers, adding, âBlayze heard Briklyn call his name. About the time he looked up, she was stumbling backward, fell back and when she hit the ground, she started seizing.â Briklynâs father ran toward her and cradled her head in his arms and told his son to call 911. He was with Briklyn as her body started stiffening and quickly jerking and the area around her eyes and mouth started turning blue. âAt that moment, that was the most helpless he had ever felt,â Franklin explains. âHe said he thought he was watching his baby girl die in his arms and there was nothing he could do.âÂ
Kellie Franklin returned from work to EMTs in her driveway. âI rode with her in the ambulance as they transported her to the ER at Childrenâs Hospital in Birmingham.â The Franklins learned from doctors that everyone gets one âfree seizure,â so they diagnosed Briklyn with Convulsive Syncope. They were instructed to follow up with her pediatrician. After following up, Briklynâs pediatrician scheduled her for an EEG on December 28. âThe following day they called me and said that her EEG had revealed abnormal spikes and waves consistent with recent seizure activity and requested that we follow up with Pediatric Neurology.â Franklin shared with the doctors about an unusual occurrence where Briklyn was walking to her fatherâs shop in the backyard. âShe remembered getting about halfway up the stairs but the next thing she recalled was being in the kitchen flipping the light switch on and off thinking she was opening the garage door.âÂ
As 16-year-old Briklyn Franklin looks back on her journey with epilepsy, she shares, âI felt alone at times⊠I realized that all I needed to do was give it all to God because He was going through it with me the whole time.â Briklyn attends Jemison High School
The familyâs idea of what a seizure is changed that day. âWe learned quickly just how different seizures can look not only from one person to another but even within the same individual,â Franklin says. Because of these events, Briklyn was diagnosed with epilepsy. She was put on medication but had a seizure during the next two months and then was seizure free for six and a half months. âThe stress of not knowing if or when there would be another seizure could have been enough to break a person whose hope is in anything other than the Lord, but we trusted that she would not have a single seizure that He wasnât aware of beforehand.âÂ
Briklynâs seizures started back on September 2, 2017. Doctors increased her medication but by the end of March, she had six seizures in seven and a half months. âI immediately began researching neurosurgeons and began praying for a specific doctor,â Franklin says. After this, Briklyn went through several scans and procedures, and on November 10, 2020, she underwent a craniotomy. âThe type of epilepsy that Briklyn has is not a type that she would be expected to outgrow,â Franklin says, adding, âWe werenât sure if we would ever actually see her make it seven months seizure free⊠right now she is almost 14 months seizure-free!âÂ
The Franklin family sees Godâs fingerprints all over Briklynâs journey with epilepsy through people near and far praying for Briklyn, the doctors who treated her that the Franklins had specifically prayed would do the surgery and so much more. âFor anyone who asks how Briklynâs journey to seizure freedom is a miracle, I would have to ask, âHow is it not?ââÂ
After nearly 14 months of no seizures, Briklyn unfortunately had a seizure in November. âWe are thankful for the miracle of how long she was seizure-free and pray that, if it is Godâs will, she never has another one. However, we seek His perfect will above our selfish and limited wishes,â Kellie Franklin says, adding, âWe trust that we will persevere through every circumstance we face knowing that the perseverance will make us mature and complete in our faith.â
-Melissa ArmstrongÂ
We need you to share your Miracle Moment! Email [email protected] Subject Line: Miracle Moments or call 205-408-7150.
Get your holiday shopping started, support local artisans, and help raise funds for some exceptional kids! Local artisans and crafters have a wide variety of beautiful works available & lots of free Fall Festival activitiesfor the children to enjoy: balloon twisting, inflatables, games, & a crafting station. In addition, food & refreshments will be available for purchaseâa Silent Auction & Door prizes throughout the day. All proceeds go to purchase canopy-enclosed safety beds and other equipment for two children with Autism in our community.
First Priority will once again coordinate SYATP efforts for Greater Birmingham through:
